


Halloween Heist

by Phantoms_Echo



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Author doesn't know what happened, Comedy, Complete, Conan can't resist a challenge from KID, Conan is not a happy camper, He gets off on riddles, IT'S ALIVE!!!!, It was only supposed to be 1000 words or so, It's become a monster, KID can't help himself, M/M, Muahahahaha!, Mystery, Riddles, author needs more sleep, it wasn't supposed to be this long, until he is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 16:58:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12586476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantoms_Echo/pseuds/Phantoms_Echo
Summary: Because Halloween Scavenger Hunt doesn't sound as nice.Trick or Treat, Tantei-kun!Up for a little Halloween game?I’ve left clues all over town.Find them all, you’ll get a treat.Fail to find them in time, you’ll get a trick.Good luck, Tantei-kun.-Kaitou KID





	Halloween Heist

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito, only the events of this fic.
> 
> PS -So, this was *actually* supposed to be in the drabbles collection... then I looked down, saw the 9000+ word count and was like, "well, that's not a drabble"
> 
> Quick run-down. This AU is a sort-of Nightmare Before Christmas. Everyone is a monster of some sort and, given Ran and Kazuha's fear of mythical monsters, I made humans the things that go bump in the night. Even so, some 'soft' myths, like angels and unicorns, are still considered myths by this AU. No real reason, I just felt like every world should have it's own myths.
> 
> People are as follows:
> 
> Conan: Shape Shifter (pretending to be a Werewolf though)  
> Haibara: Witch  
> KID: Sphinx  
> Ran: Valkyry  
> Sonoko: Dragon  
> Kazuha: Kitsune  
> Hattori: Werewolf  
> Mouri Kogoro: Cambion (look it up.)  
> Ayumi: elf  
> Mitsuhiko: Tanuki  
> Genta: (uh... oops, I forgot about Genta. Let's call him...) Mummy. To-be... ?
> 
> Let's face it guys, Genta's just there for the candy.
> 
> Anyway, I think that's all you need to know? Yeah, that's all I can think of. Please enjoy!

Conan hated being Conan. Being small, ignored, written off as some precocious kid –he hated it all. However, there was one thing he hated most of all.

Halloween.

The day where kids were allowed (or in his case, _forced_ ) to wear costumes and go house-to-house collecting tooth-rotting sweets (ick). Sure, as an _actual_ kid, he’d humored Ran and gone with her and Sonoko, but he wasn’t an _actual_ kid and neither were they.

He was sixteen and stuffed into a tiny white suit and top hat –Mini Kaitou KID, courtesy of Sonoko. He hoped the thief stayed far away. He hoped _anyone_ that knew him as Kudou Shinichi stayed far away.

Unfortunately, his luck was not with him.

“You look dashing tonight,” Haibara commented, hands behind her back. She was dressed in simple black garb and a crooked triangle hat –a little witch.

“Shut up,” Conan growled, feeling his ears pull back in agitation. “You just dressed up as yourself! You should be more creative.”

“Oh? Should I have gone for the opposite?” Haibara cast a glance back at their escorts for the evening, “Mouri-san looks like she had fun.”

Ran did have fun. Even though the short skirt was outside her comfort zone, the red color (and overall scheme) matched her dyed-red wings beautifully. The little fake horns on her head completed the look. No doubt she would still love the red coloring her wings would keep for weeks after until they started molting.

The entire outfit was also courtesy of a laughing Sonoko, who also sported an ‘opposite’ look. The white toga was a given, though shorter than any ‘angel’ was sure to wear. Her horns held the halo-headband snug to her head and didn’t stand out too much despite how the black clashed with her fake white wings. An armlet of gold circled her bicep because, come on. No self-respecting dragon would be seen without a little bling.

“You know she’s not an actual angel,” Conan grumbled, “just like Sonoko is a dragon, not demon.”

“I know. Valkyries of the warrior class do find some offense to being called angels,” Haibara noted, “still, the resemblance is uncanny.”

“If angels were real, I’m sure it would be,” Conan half-heartedly agreed.

“Hmm, not a bad thief there, Ku –Conan,” an all-too-familiar voice butted in.

 _Ugh,_ Conan mentally groaned, _why’d it have to be him?_

“Shouldn’t you be in Osaka?” Conan demanded, tugging his hat further down on his head. Maybe if he pulled it down far enough, he could escape to some alternate universe where this _didn’t_ happen to him.

“And miss your first Halloween with ‘Nee-chan?” Hattori’s grin was feral. “No way.”

“What even are you?” Conan asked, eyeing his unwanted escort.

“Can’t you tell?” Hattori held out his arms, spreading the funeral yukata wide. A skewed white triangle took the place of his typical hat. Affronted at Conan’s blank look, Hattori exclaimed, “I’m a ghost!”

“… Ah.”

“Don’t you ‘Ah’ me!” Hattori growled, his wolf ears turning down in a mimic of Conan’s earlier, “I take it back. Your costume is stupid. No self-respecting werewolf would wear that! Especially a detective one!”

Which was okay, since Conan wasn’t _really_ a werewolf. However, being a general shapeshifter would be too close to Shinichi, so werewolf it was. Ran never knew any better.

“Ah!” Hattori-nii-san!” Ayumi squealed from the stairs. She was dressed as a princess, pointy elf ears decorated with fake earrings, “You came too?!”

“Hi there, Hime-chan!” Hattori greeted with a wide smile.

“Is Kazuha-nee-chan here too?” Genta asked. He was dressed as a vampire, complete with fake teeth. Conan didn’t doubt he’d lose them after the first house.

“Yeah, back there talking with ‘Nee-chan.” Hattori looked back to where the Kitsune (disguised as a werewolf) was talking to Ran.

“Hattori-san…” Mitsuhiko fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. “Is my costume okay?”

He’d elected to go as a werewolf that year and proceeded to pepper Conan with questions so he wouldn’t come across as culturally insensitive. That’s a well-mannered Tanuki for you.

Hattori grinned brightly and ruffled the kid’s wild looking hair. “You look awesome! Let me know if you ever wanna hang out with a fellow werewolf, yeah?”

Mitsuhiko brightened, relieved that his research had paid off.

A bell jingled a little ways away from them, a woman leaving the Poirot café.

“Azusa-san!” Ayumi called, running over with her little trick-or-treat bag. “Azusa-san, look!

“Ah!” Azusa cooed and knelt in front of Ayumi, “So many cute costumes! A noble wolf, a scary vampire, a smart witch, a cute princess…” she cocked her head to the side when she came to Conan, “And… the princess’ knight?”

Conan choked as Ayumi smiled brightly. Mitsuhiko gave a fair impression of a werewolf growl as Genta bared his fake teeth. She laughed at their reactions.

“Kids, what do you say?” Sonoko prompted.

“Hah!” Ayumi lifted her bag, “Trick-or-Treat!”

“… I was going for ‘Thank you’,” Sonoko sighed, “but I guess that works too.”

“Hmm… I don’t have any candy on me since we were just packing up for the night…” Azusa snapped her fingers, “How about some hot chocolate for the road?”

“Oh, no!” Ran held up her hands, “we couldn’t accept-!”

“Nonsense,” Azusa said with a smile, “if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes, I’ll be right back out.”

“While she’s doing that," Mitsuhiko muscled his way between Conan and Ayumi, “we can plan our route for the night”

“Yeah!” Genta agreed, taking up Ayumi’s other side, “we need to get as much candy as possible!”

“No, Genta, quality over quantity! We need to hit the houses with the _best_ candy.”

“If we hit them all, will it matter?”

“Look at them…” Hattori commented to Conan, “Mitsuhiko-kun is acting more of a werewolf than you ever have.”

“Careful,” Conan warned, “Kazuha doesn’t know yet, does she? I would hate to ruin any possible confessions you have planned.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Hattori said, though his words were edged in uncertainty. Conan flashed him a smile. “After all I’ve done for you, you wouldn’t.”

“How many times have you messed up my name so far?” Conan raised an eyebrow. Hattori was saved from answering by the return of the waitress.

“Hot chocolate!” Azusa announced, balancing the tray as she booted open the door.

“Yay!” Ayumi exclaimed as she, Genta and Mitsuhiko swarmed the tray. Conan rolled his eyes, following with Haibara at a more sedate pace.

It took one sip for him to determine that this was _not_ hot chocolate. With just enough cream to lighten the color and just enough chocolate liqueur to mute the bitter scent, this could only be one thing.

Coffee.

He looked over at Haibara. By her expression, she had a similar cup. Through silent communication, they decided to keep this discovery to themselves. Ran would take away their cups otherwise.

No one else seemed to have this epiphany, so the other cups were all hot chocolate –meaning the two cups were targeted for Conan and Haibara. But why?

Azusa didn’t normally give Conan coffee. She was very much against giving kids caffeine as it would stunt their growth. This was so out of character, Conan was almost too scared to finish his cup… _almost_.

“Thank you, Azusa-nee-chan!” Mitsuhiko said, the other two chiming in. Ran, Sonoko, Kazuha, and Hattori also thanked her for their own cups. Before Conan had time to ruminate on difference in drinks, the kids were pulling him along to the first house on their route.

Before they went to the door, the kids handed off their cups to the girls to hold onto for them. Conan handed Hattori his and Haibara’s cups. Hattori was their best bet to keeping their coffee secret. He hoped the Osakan wouldn’t snitch on him for his comments earlier.

By the look on the teen’s face when he returned, Conan knew he’d been figured out. Must have been the smell.

“I want _all_ your candy,” Hattori hissed behind Ran’s back.

“Have at it,” Conan replied as he took another sip of coffee. Sweeter than he liked, but it was a compromise for the caffeine. He ignored Hattori where the werewolf dug through his bag for tasty treats.

He was enjoying the pleasant buzz from his drink when Haibara nudged him. “Edogawa-kun.”

Conan shot her a curious look, eyes falling to her cup when she gestured to it. It was empty. He was about to deny her a portion of his drink when he saw what she really pointed at.

Words at the bottom of her cup.

_Trick or Treat, Tantei-kun!_

_Up for a little Halloween game?_

_I’ve left clues all over town._

_Find them all, you’ll get a treat._

_Fail to find them in time, you’ll get a trick._

_Good luck, Tantei-kun._

_-Kaitou KID_

“When did he-?” Conan shook his head. It must have been Azusa at Poirot café. He should’ve known better. She was saying just last week that the café would be closed for Halloween. Why didn’t he remember back then?

No, not the time. Right now, he had a game to play and a thief to catch, but where to start? The note just said around town. It didn’t give any clues on where to begin, setting it up for Conan to fail. That didn’t sound like KID.

While in heavy thought, he took an absent drink of his own coffee. Then it hit him. The coffee, the only two cups in a group of nine.

Despite wanting to savor his cup, Conan threw it back in one big gulp to Ran’s startled surprise. “C-Careful, Conan-kun!”

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand (and dying the back of his glove dark with coffee), Conan peered into the bottom of his mug and smirked.

_Upscale apartments for us,_

_The humans considered them a place of eternal sleep._

“Conan-kun, what was that ab-?” Ran knelt down, her nose twitching. A dark look crossed her face, “Co-nan-kun, was that _coffee_?”

 _Crap!_ Conan paled and quickly tried to redirect her anger, “L-look, Ran-nee-chan! Words appeared! Is it a spell?”

“Words?” Hattori shoved himself between them and snatched up Conan’s cup, then Haibara’s. “Hoo-boy! Does this thief never sleep?”

“Thief?” Kazuha repeated.

“Looks like Conan has been challenged by the King of Pranks himself,” Hattori said, handing off Haibara’s cup to Ran. “Kaitou KID has a scavenger hunt for us.”

“KID-sama?!” Sonoko exclaimed, snatching the other cup. She gave it a hard look. “Yeah, it looks like his handwriting all right. But why would KID-sama challenge that brat?”

“Maybe he’s looking for a little fun?” Kazuha wrinkled her nose, “and doesn’t he ask for Conan from time to time? As KID Killer?”

“Hmm, that’s true,” Ran noted as she got a look over Kazuha’s shoulder, “but what should we do? We planned to take the kids around the neighborhood. We can’t do that _and_ this.”

“Why don’t you girls take the four there?” Hattori suggested, “I’ll take K-Conan with me and we’ll track down this thief.”

It wasn’t a bad plan, but-!

“No!” Ayumi stomped her foot. “I want to go with Conan!”

“Yeah!” Mitsuhiko joined in, “he always gets to do fun stuff without us!”

“And I bet a treat from KID has got to be a lot of candy!” Genta added, drool decorating his chin, “or a gem! So we can buy more!”

“KID doesn’t keep the gems he steals.” Conan rolled his eyes.

“Well, it sounds to me like we got a scavenger hunt on our hands.” Kazuha nudged Hattori with her elbow. Hattori groaned and scratched behind one of his furry ears.

“With KID-sama being the prize!” Sonoko added, literal hearts in her eyes. Ran laughed nervously before looking at the riddle cup.

“Where do we go first?” she asked, “there are a lot of upscale places in Tokyo. How do we narrow it down?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Hattori gave her a quizzical look.

Conan decided to play nice and chirped, “it’s at the cemetery, Ran-nee-chan!”

“Ah!” she gasped, a smile spreading across her face, “I see! That does make sense!”

“Human stories always say they would bury their dead in a cemetery, six-feet down so they couldn’t get out, right?” Kazuha asked, rubbing her arms to rid herself of goose-bumps. Humans were terrifying creatures!

“Bah. _Humans_.” Hattori rolled his eyes. “Just a bunch of ghost stories!”

“H-he’s right, Kazuha,” Ran said, even as she and Kazuha held onto each other. “Humans don’t exist! Just… just silly stories!”

Sonoko shot Ran a dubious look. “You going to be okay, Ran?”

“W-what?” Ran flinched, “Of course!”

“Ri~ght…” Sonoko pumped her fist into the air. “Well, off to the cemetery!”

 _How did I pick up so many extras?_ Conan wondered, but just sighed and allowed Sonoko to lead them.

*             *             *             *             *

The cemetery was filled with bustling skeletons. Some carried boxes full of colorful decorations while others were putting candles on every headstone. Yet more had opened up a face-painting booth where white bones were decked out in holiday colors.

 _Looks like preparation for the Day of the Dead is in full swing._ Conan thought to himself.

“Where do we even start?” Genta grumbled, “I want to hurry up and get more candy!”

“Well, we can always ask…” Mitsuhiko frowned, “and you didn’t have to come, you know. You could have continued trick-or-treating.”

“It’s not fun without you and-!”

“Trick or Treat!” Ayumi squealed, holding her bag out to a passing skeleton. The skeleton cocked its head to the side, eyeholes staring. Ayumi frowned, “Hello?”

“Ayumi-chan,” Mitsuhiko shook his head, “skeletons can’t communicate like us. Their eyes, ears, and vocal chords have decayed entirely. If you want to talk, you have to do this.”

Mitsuhiko moved his arms in a series of gestures that Conan recognized as sign language. His two years of MSL in high school paid off in the least likely ways.

Hello, I am M-I-T-S-U-H-I-K-O _._

Hello, M-I-T-S-U-H-I-K-O. Why have you come to us today? And why are you muted? The skeleton replied.

“Wow, Mitsuhiko-kun!” Ayumi beamed, “he replied! What did he say?”

“Um…” Mitsuhiko scratched at his fake ears. “I don’t know. I only know how to say ‘Hi’, ‘Bye’, ‘Thank you’, and ‘where’s the restroom’.”

“Oh,” Ayumi frowned, “Mitsuhiko, if they don’t have eyes, how can they see you to reply?”

Mitsuhiko frowned, “I don’t know, uh…”

“They can’t see you, but they can sense you,” Conan answered, putting his hands in his pockets. “It’s a different kind of magic. They sense your bones moving and making shapes. They interpret and reply using their own shapes back.”

“Whoa!” Genta grinned, “that’s so cool!”

Cool… but troublesome. Conan couldn’t publically communicate with them as a typical child wouldn’t know more than Mitsuhiko described. He looked to Hattori, wondering if he could help.

Hattori was looking at Kazuha. He scowled at her, “Just do it, would you?”

“I think I should gloat a little more,” Kazuha said, her grin un-ironically sly as a fox, “How’s your Atlantean courses treating you now, wolf-boy?”

“Just wait ‘til we have a beach case!” Hattori snapped, “then we’ll see who’s laughing.”

“Me, ‘cause I’d be relaxing at the beach while you do all the work.” Kazuha’s grin sharpened as she raised her hands. Hello, I am K-Fox.

Hello, K-Fox. Why are you muted?

I am still alive. Flesh blurred the bone magic to the skeletons, Conan knew. We are on a scavenger hunt. Have you felt anyone weird around?

Another muted person came through here a few hours ago. The skeleton signed. They said a group would be showing up and gave us these.

Another skeleton held up a box. Inside were bone-white spirals. The color was right, but texture and shape were wrong. These weren’t bones, these were…

“Candy!” Ayumi cheered, reaching forward.

“Wait!” Conan put out a hand to stop her. After the coffee incident, he had his suspicions.

He took the box from the skeleton with a signed thank you and sniffed it. His nose, though strong, was still infantile compared to Hattori so, reluctantly Conan handed off the box. “Tell me if one is different.”

Hattori gave the box a preliminary sniff. He frowned, “There’s definitely one that’s not like the others, but I’ll have to be more meticulous.”

“We’ve got all night.” Conan shrugged. Well, technically, they didn’t, but KID didn’t give them a solid time limit, so Conan was mainly working under assumptions at this point.

Nodding, Hattori divided the two piles in half and gave each a sniff. He handed one pile off to Conan and divided the other in half again. Figuring the pile in his hands was safe, Conan distributed it to the kids.

Did the muted person tell you their name? Conan saw Kazuha ask.

K-Smile. The skeleton replied. Kaitou Kid for sure.

Did they leave anything else with you? A note or something? Kazuha frowned.

Only those. The skeleton signed, gesturing vaguely to where Hattori had narrowed down the piles to two sticks each. At least it confirmed Conan’s suspicions. If there was another clue, it would be mixed in with the candies.

“Here,” Hattori said, “smells like lemons. All the others smell like raspberry.”

Taking it, Conan scrutinized the candy. It looked the same material as a naked candy-cane, though it looked more like a square had been elongated and twisted, shrinking more towards one tip. It was vaguely reminiscent of the mythical Unicorn horn. He switched hands and rubbed his thumb and fore-finger together.

 _Powder_ , he decided, _same at the other end, so…_

He gave the entire thing a lick, careful to not let his saliva get too slobbery. The taste made his mouth pucker, so _sour_! Just the way he liked it.

“Ew, Co-nan!” Ayumi squealed in disgust

“Oi,” Hattori growled in his ear, “If this is a ‘werewolf’ joke-!”

Words appeared on the white surface in bright electric blue. Ignoring the gasps from the others around him and Hattori’s pointed sputter, Conan turned the white candy sideways to read.

_You got the bones, now it’s time for the muscle._

_The legend without a name has your next clue._

“The legend without a name?” Hattori repeated, “well, if we’re going after muscles, it’s gotta be strong, right?”

“But all legends have names!” Sonoko put her hands on her hips. “That’s why they are _legends_!”

“Maybe there’s one that doesn’t _sound_ like a legendary name?” Mitsuhiko looked to Ayumi or Genta.

“Or they always get the name wrong,” Genta agreed, “like my uncle is always called Ookami instead of Ota’mi. He’s not even a wolf!”

Wrong name?

That’s it!

“Frankenstein,” Conan said in answer to the riddle.

“Huh? But…” Ran wrinkled her nose, “Doesn’t everyone know Frankenstein?”

“Yeah, he’s been Mayor for a few decades,” Sonoko nodded, “everyone knows him.”

“I’m not even from _Tokyo_ and _I’ve_ heard of Frankenstein,” Kazuha added in.

“Frankenstein…” Hattori put his thumbs to his chin in thought, then grinned, “you’re right. If it’s anyone, it’d be him.”

“Hah?!” Ran and Sonoko squawked simultaneously.

“But Heiji…” Kazuha tugged on his sleeve. “We just said…”

“You said you knew Frankenstein,” Hattori agreed, “but that’s not his name.”

The girls all shared a look. Mitsuhiko was the one to get it first. He gasped with realization and exclaimed, “Frankenstein’s Monster!”

“Correct!” Hattori pointed to Mitsuhiko with a grin. The boy perked up in excitement.

“Said to have been created by a human, out of human bits himself,” Conan filled in the blanks, “Frankenstein’s Monster was named after his creator, but in reality has no given name. Over the years, people have taken to calling him Frankenstein –a shortened version of his real name.”

“So if he doesn’t have a name…” Genta frowned around a bone-white candy, “and everyone still knows him…”

“He must be the legend from the riddle!” Ayumi pumped her tiny fists. “Let’s go to his house next!”

“Yeah!” Mitsuhiko agreed, “for another riddle!”

“And more candy!” Genta added.

The three girls laughed at the kids’ cheer before Ran took the lead and headed towards the mayoral district. The kids waved goodbye to their skeleton friends and excitedly spoke of the visit and possible return for the Day of the Dead celebration.

“Oi,” Conan called to Haibara as quietly as he could. The little witch looked over at him, cool eyes curious. “You haven’t said anything for a while. Have you… do you sense him around?”

“Not him,” Haibara said, “but something in that coffee earlier.”

“The cof-?!” Conan choked, his ears flying straight up, nearly dislodging his top hat. His hands went to his stomach. “And you didn’t think to tell me?!”

“I had a moment of weakness.” Haibara rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t worry. It was just a hint. Most likely it was a spell cast on his riddles so the coffee wouldn’t make them illegible.”

That… was a fair possibility, but… Conan narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure this time, right? This isn’t like that time with the Bandersnatch out in the Tulgee woods, right?”

“That time was on purpose,” Haibara answered. It didn’t make Conan feel any better. She sighed, “I drank it too, Edogawa-kun. I wouldn’t lie about this.”

And that was a fair point.

The mayoral house came into view at that moment. Conan dropped the subject to run up front and take the lead beside Ran. Behind, Haibara put a hand to her stomach.

“You better figure this out, Kudou-kun,” she said to herself, “before time runs out and KID’s little ‘trick’ comes in to play.”

*             *             *             *             *

The gates to the mayoral house were open, but Conan didn’t see any other groups of kids in sight. Either they were the first of many or kids _avoided_ this particular house, probably for good reason.

A monster made of _human_ bits? That’s the stuff of nightmares. Any normal kid would get scared and think twice about knocking on his door.

Conan was no such child.

He ran right up to the door, the Shounen Tantei following quickly behind. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed other kids watching them with morbid curiosity. Most likely, they were wondering if Conan and his friends would get eaten.

Conan wanted to laugh at the idea.

Without hesitation, Conan grabbed hold of the big knocker and slammed it three times against the wooden doors. There was a pause, the air tense with expectation from the kids, then the door opened, spilling light onto the slowly darkening porch. A shadow of a man threw itself over Conan’s face like the calm before the storm.

The man, himself, loomed over them, a good seven-foot-tall. His limbs, though sewn together with industrial grade sutures, didn’t have the green discoloration of other zombies. His hands and face, the only skin showing, were pale as a fresh corpse, never changing. His face was beautiful in a disturbingly dead way.

Truly a monster made of monsters.

At his silent, looming figure, Ayumi hid behind Conan, peeking past his shoulder. Mitsuhiko and Genta seemed to like that idea as they hid behind him too, despite Mitsuhiko’s taller height and Genta’s overall bigger-ness.

“Frankenstein’s monster,” Conan addressed the mayor.

The man raised an eyebrow.

Conan held up his bag and smiled, “Trick or Treat!”

The man continued to stare for a moment before his lips split into a breathtaking grin and he barked out a laugh. Behind them, Ran, Kazuha, and Sonoko all blushed at the sight. Hattori crossed his arms, his ears pulling back the slightest bit. At the gate, kids were gathering, watching the mayor interact with these other, braver kids.

“I had wondered if the riddle would be too hard for you youth,” the man said, his voice deep with a slight rasp. “Not many know my original name anymore, it seems. I am glad you figured it out.”

“Mitsuhiko did!” Ayumi offered, warming up to the friendly smile, “he knew your name wasn’t Frankenstein!”

“W-well,” Mitsuhiko scratched at his fake ears, “C-Conan-kun actually-!”

“Yeah. Mitsuhiko is really smart,” Conan beamed and ignored the other boy’s sputtered protests. They didn’t last long since it made Ayumi smile at him. Genta huffed.

“Very smart indeed,” Frankenstein’s Monster agreed. He gestured them inside. “I suppose you’d like your candy now?”

“And the next clue, if you don’t mind,” Conan asked politely as he led the group in. The kids crowded at the gates looked more and more confident the longer Conan and his friends _weren’t_ eaten. The door shut behind them before the first kid grew confident enough to approach.

“Candy first,” Frankenstein replied, taking a bowl set next to a larger bowl and lowering it to the Shounen Tantei. Inside were soft pink squares wrapped in wax paper.

“Taffy!” Ayumi exclaimed, taking a handful.

“Pulled it myself,” Frankenstein offered.

“Whoa! Homemade!” Genta said, taking two handfuls.

“Genta-kun,” Mitsuhiko admonished, “don’t take all of it! You have to leave some for the others!”

“Don’t worry,” the man nodded towards the larger bowl. “That is for other children. This is all for you.”

Mitsuhiko’s eyes went wide, then it became a battle for the candy between the kids.

“You said you were worried the riddle would be too hard,” Hattori recalled, “did you come up with it?”

“No,” the mayor shook his head, “A boy your age came to me a few days ago. He was planning a scavenger hunt for a group of kids. He asked if I would participate and I didn’t mind. He showed me the riddle and I okay’d it, but I had wondered if he overestimated the group of children.”

He smiled down at the three surrounding the taffy bowl, “I am glad he did not.”

“This boy…” Hattori cocked his head to the side, ears perked attentively. “Can you describe him?”

“Oh, I can do better,” the man said before disappearing into another room.

“Conan, try it!” Ayumi pressed a wrapped square into his hands. “Haibara too!”

Conan scowled at it, not really one for sweets. He had to try though, if only for Ayumi. To his surprise, it wasn’t just sweet, it was also a little salty. Unable to find a trash can, he shoved the used wrapper into his pocket.

 _Salt water taffy_ , he decided as he rolled the soft dough around in his mouth. It stuck to his teeth like a sticky tack when the man returned, a newspaper in hand.

“This boy.” Frankenstein’s monster pointed to a picture and Conan nearly choked. It was him, Kudou Shinichi, on the day of his meeting with the mayor –a congratulations for all his work with the Tokyo Division One. Mayor Frankenstein stood next to him, the two shaking hands and looking to the camera.

“The guy was Kudou Shinichi?!” Hattori demanded.

“Shinichi?” Ran pushed Hattori to the side, “Shinichi was here?!”

“No,” the man shook his head, “he wasn’t Kudou-kun, but he looked very similar.”

“Not Shinichi?” Ran seemed to wilt a bit before she sighed and huffed. “Of course. That detective nerd wouldn’t be here. He’s working too hard on his _case_. He wouldn’t have time to play scavenger hunt.”

Conan disguised his choke as a cough.

The doorbell rang at that moment, seeming to make Frankenstein’s Monster perk up. The man grabbed the bowl of assorted candies and headed towards the door. There was a flurry of movement and the sound of kids yelling “Trick-or-Treat!”

After a few minutes, the mayor returned, face beaming. When he saw the group staring at him, he suddenly seemed to become shy.

“Sorry,” he said, placing the bowl back on the table he’d plucked it from. “It’s been some time since kids knocked on my door. I… believe I may be too scary for many of the young ones these days.”

Well, Conan wasn’t going to _argue_ … but he’s glad to be of some help to the man. He remembered being scared back when he was first going to meet the mayor. When the guy turned out to be a big softie, Shinichi hadn’t been able to help a sigh of relief.

It seemed these kids would learn that lesson early.

“Mayor-san,” Conan called, trying to get back on track. Some unknown time limit was counting down, making a yoke fall around his neck. “Can we have the next clue please?”

“You already have everything you need for the next riddle,” the man said with a mysterious smile. Hattori and Conan exchanged a look.

They did? But he hadn’t given them anything but… the candy!

Conan mentally cursed as he looked over to the kids, but there were already piles of wrappers around them. If the candy was special like the pulled sugar, there was a (Conan counted the wrappers and candy left in the bowl) 53% chance the special candy had already been eaten.

But… the mayor had said they have everything they need. That implies _still_ , despite the kids eating some of the taffy, so that must mean…

Conan dug his wrapper from his pocket and smoothed it out. Black lines crisscrossed over it, not in some arbitrary design, but in _words_ , broken and cut apart.

“Don’t throw away your wrappers!” Conan ordered the kids, “they hold the clue!”

“You gotta be kidding me! A puzzle?!” Hattori groaned, “there’s fifty pieces here _at least_! How are we gonna know if the word we put together is right?”

“Ah!” Genta yelped when he dropped half of his wrappers. Two landed next to each other and, with a small blue spark, melded together to form one piece.

Conan looked to Hattori. “Guess that answers that.”

Hattori grumbled, but they set to work none-the-less.

There were some rules to the magic-meld. Pieces had to be lined up straight and had to be facing the same direction, writing right-side-up, but it was relatively easy with nine pairs of hands to search through the piles. Frankenstein’s Monster left a few times to hand out candy before returning to watch the group at work.

Finally, Conan let out a victorious cry as the final piece slotted into place.

“If I _ever_ see another puzzle in my life,” Hattori scowled, “it’ll be too soon.”

“What’s it say?” Ayumi demanded, shaking Conan’s shoulder in her excitement.

_Skeletons and corpses, now count to three._

_The oldest alive is who you seek._

“Oldest alive…” Kazuha frowned and looked back to Ran, “doesn’t that mean we go back to the skeletons?”

“But they said they didn’t have anything else, but that box,” Ran said thoughtfully.

“What is older than a skeleton, though?” Sonoko crossed her arms.

“Technically, I am,” the mayor offered, “but I too, have nothing for you. I also don’t know the answer, so I can’t help.”

Conan put his hand to his chin in thought.

Skeletons and corpses –both old and ‘dead’. This had to be a monster similar to them. Also, hints at the ‘oldest’, so it was an old monster, but not one old enough to start decaying –or one that _didn’t_ like Frankenstein’s Monster.

Now count to three… not three as in three types of monsters, but three syllables. Count…

“Dra-cu-la,” Conan muttered to himself. The oldest alive, a vampire who had stopped aging, frozen in time. It also works with the previous riddle –bones, then muscle, now _blood_.

It also followed the ‘human’ theme KID seemed to have going on as Dracula was said to have fed on the mythical human race before they disappeared. There was no doubt.

“I know where we’re going next,” Conan said, getting to his feet. “Or at least, _who_. I’m not entirely sure _where_ he’d be at this time of year.”

“Who is it, Conan?” Ayumi asked.

“Yeah!” Genta managed around a mouthful of taffy. His fake teeth were hanging loosely from his shirt pocket. “Who is it? Don’t keep it from us!”

“Who else,” Conan smirked at them, “but Count Dracula? The oldest vampire, oldest _monster_ , alive?”

“That makes so much sense!” Mitsuhiko groaned, “why didn’t I think of that?”

“If you are looking for Dracula,” the mayor started, “he’s an old friend of mine. He should be at his Fall Home right now, which would be the old Clock Tower in Ekoda.”

 _Wow._ Conan thought. _How convenient that the mayor would know._

Out loud, he said, “Thank you, Mayor-san!”

“You’re welcome!” Frankenstein’s Monster smiled and showed them to the door. “Feel free to come visit any time! I will always make room in my schedule for the Shounen Tantei!”

“Yeah!” Ayumi promised for all of them as the group moved on.

“That was nice.” Hattori bumped Conan’s shoulder with his hip, “What you did back there for Mitsuhiko? Letting him have the glory?”

“When I become Kudou Shinichi again, the Shounen Tantei will need a leader,” Conan said in lieu of a reply. “He’s the best fit. He’s got a pretty good handle already, despite being young. He’ll do fine on cases.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to be nice,” Hattori noted before looking thoughtful. “Speaking of cases, Kaitou KID… what do you think he is? A shapeshifter like you –why are you looking at me like I’m retarded?”

“His idea of _fun_ is to send out his rivals on a scavenger hunt using _riddles_ ,” Conan deadpanned, “he’s a sphinx, plain and simple.”

“But his disguises-!”

“Shapeshifters aren’t the only ones who can become other people,” Conan noted, “some people don’t even need _magic_ to pull it off.”

“Craaap,” Hattori groaned, face palming, “now I feel stupid.”

“You’re welcome,” Conan smirked at him before a shadow obscuring the moon caused him to look up.

Conan remembered the clock tower. He visited it once in the middle of an _insane_ heist. Some idiot had thought he could _steal the tower_ in front of a trained Taskforce and a cheering crowd of _thousands_. Obviously, he had failed, but he put up a good fight. Shinichi had enjoyed that heist, almost as much as he enjoyed the ones KID invited him to every few months.

Tonight, it looked just as it did all those months ago, backlit by a full moon, but this time, there was a light on at the very top of the clock tower.

“Conan…” Mitsuhiko asked nervously, “how do we knock on his door? If we knock here, he won’t be able to hear us all the up there, right?”

“You don’t need to knock,” Conan said, putting his hands into his pocket.

“Why not?” Kazuha asked.

“Because vampires _know_ when you are near,” an unfamiliar voice answered her from the shadows.

Kazuha and Ran shrieked, latching onto each other as Sonoko stealthily hid behind Hattori with the Shounen Tantei.

“Hello, Count Dracula-sama,” Conan greeted politely.

Dracula looked down at him and sniffed, “At least _someone_ knows how to be polite. What’s your name, boy?”

“Edogawa Conan!” Conan replied brightly.

“Conan, right.” For some reason, the vampire didn’t appear to believe him. It… unsettled Conan. Dracula turned to Genta, “You! Boy!”

Genta squawked and pointed to himself.

“What kind of vampire loses his fangs?” Dracula asked, raising a pointed eyebrow.

“Huh?” Genta shoved his fingers into his mouth, then into his shirt pocket, “Hah?! They’re gone!”

Conan just wants to say: he called it.

“And the rest of you,” Dracula crossed his arms under his cape. “Back in my day, costumes were the thing of legends! All this commercialization… just ruins the whole holiday!”

Conan tried not to cackle in glee at Sonoko’s affronted cry. He mostly succeeded.

“Now, does anyone want to tell me why you are here at my front door on such a night?” Dracula scowled.

“It’s… we’re…” Ayumi held out her bag with shaking hands, “Trick-or-treat?”

Dracula raised an eyebrow at her, “And if I don’t give you candy? What will you do?”

Ayumi shared a nervous look with Mitsuhiko and Genta. They were probably thinking: not giving out candy was against the rules, right?

Dracula sighed, “honestly, children these days. No backbone.”

He threw his cape to the side, showing five neat plastic bags with hard candies secured inside.

“Candy!” Ayumi grinned, forgetting her nerves entirely to run forward and take a bag from the crotchety vampire.

“Sugar rots your teeth,” Dracula said seriously, despite the fact that he was passing two more bags to an excited Mitsuhiko and Genta. “I hope you know that.”

The two immediately threw back a piece of candy each.

“It’s jelly-filled!” Mitsuhiko gasped at the taste in his mouth after he bit down.

“Strawberry!” Ayumi agreed, crunching down on hers to get at the sour-sweet inside.

“I got cherry!” Genta pointed at his mouth.

Conan watched the trio amuse themselves with the unique candies. Haibara also ended up with a bag which she stowed away for later.

“I have a special bag for you, KID-san,” Dracula said with a bemused smile.

“Conan,” Conan corrected before taking the bag.

“Mm… I’d say more like Kudou Shinichi,” Dracula replied. Conan stiffened, looking back at the rest of the group before tacking his eyes onto the vampire. The man held up his hands, “No need to be frightened. I can see you are keeping it a secret, most likely for their own good.”

“How do you know?” Conan hissed, quietly as he could to keep those with sharp ears from hearing.

“Once a vampire has smelled the blood of a person, they never forget it,” Dracula replied, “if I recall correctly, you saved my clock tower from a thief, no?”

“I…” Conan frowned, “I didn’t know it was yours?”

“I left it with a caretaker, but he thought he could make a quick buck by selling it. He already sold the jewels on it,” Dracula sighed, “it took me _forever_ to get those back. But at least I still have my tower, thanks to you and KID.”

“KID?” Conan wrinkled his nose. Why the thief…?

“Oh yes,” Dracula smiled, his fangs in stark relief, “he’s the thief that tried to steal my tower.”

Conan’s jaw dropped. KID was…?

“Although, he knew the jewels on it were a fake and he knew the caretaker wasn’t the rightful owner,” Dracula listed off, “it is the main reason I accepted his request tonight. I hate being indebted to someone.”

Blood red eyes flicked downwards, taking in Conan’s diminutive frame, “I am indebted to you as well, but I’m sure you’ll call in a favor at a later date.”

Conan ducked his head slightly, keeping his eyes on the vampire, but silently agreeing. If Dracula went up against the men in black… who exactly would win that?

“If you could keep my identity a secret, that would be a big help,” Conan replied instead of answering.

“Of course,” Dracula shrugged, “now, will you open your bag? I’m very curious as to what KID-san has planned for you. He strikes me as the type to do a trick _right_.”

Scowling at the nosy vampire, Conan pulled the string on the plastic bag and dug around. Fingers found something thin and flat, a card when he pulled it out.

Looks like KID wasn’t making him work for this one.

_This requires nerves of steel and fire of passion._

_Can you manage four?_

Or not.

“Conan, what did you get?” Ayumi demanded, looking over his shoulder, “oh, KID’s next clue!”

“What is it? What is it? What is it?” Genta asked excitedly, leaning over Conan’s head.

“Aren’t those Dragon Candies?” Mitsuhiko questioned, taking the bag from Conan’s hand, “from the Suzuki Company?”

At this point, Conan doesn’t even bother trying to make them keep their hands to themselves. It’s an effort in futility. The look on Dracula’s face made Conan think he was enjoying Conan’s pain.

“Nerves of steel and fire of passion,” Hattori read over his shoulder as the kids took Conan’s candy and popped one into their mouth. Just one cinnamon candy had them huffing and puffing, unable to deal with the heat. Hattori squatted next to Conan to get a better look at the clue. “Think it’s heat activated?”

“With the clue of fire, obviously,” Conan agreed, “what is tripping me up is the question. _Can you manage four?_ Four what?”

“Maybe it’ll tell us if we warm it up a bit?” Hattori suggested. He waved Sonoko over, “Oi, Suzuki-san!”

“What’s the brat got?” Sonoko asked, standing haughtily over Conan and Hattori. Her demeanor changed abruptly at the sight of a white card. “Oh, is that KID-sama’s next hint?”

“Yeah,” Hattori nodded, “we think it’s heat activated by the clue. Think you can warm it up a bit?”

“Hah!” Sonoko barked out a laugh and snapped her fingers, alighting her knuckles. She grinned evilly,  “no sweat.”

Conan handed over the card and watched as Sonoko carefully heated the paper, keeping the flame close enough to warm but not burn.

“Oh! There are words!” Sonoko squealed.

“There are?!” Hattori loomed over her shoulder as Conan tried to stand on his tip-toes, then _jump_ to see. Being short _sucked_.

“Hah?” Sonoko scowled at the paper as the fire over her knuckles went out. “What in the world is _this_?!”

“What’s it say?!” Conan whined.

Hattori took the paper and made a very unimpressed face, “ _Nice Try, Tantei-kun, but no cheating!”_

“How is that _cheating_?!” Sonoko demanded with a huff.

“Maybe…” Ran fidgeted with her headband, “maybe _Conan_ is the one that needs to do it?”

“I mean, it _could_ be bespelled…” Kazuha frowned at the card, “I sense magic, but… I can’t tell too much about it.”

“Let me see.” Haibara held out a hand expectantly. Hattori looked to Conan, then shrugged and put the card into her outstretched hand. Haibara brought it close. Closing her eyes, she concentrated her energy into a small ball, just big enough to surround the slightly singed card. “Hmm…”

“Well?” Conan put his hands into his pockets.

“It’s definitely bespelled,” Haibara answered, the ball of energy fading as she opened her eyes. She handed the card back to Conan. “It will only work when _you_ use heat on it. Anyone else, it will show that message.”

“But I’m a-!” _shapeshifter_ “-werewolf!” Conan grimaced, “how am I supposed to make _fire_?!”

“Didn’t something _else_ come in that bag of yours?” Haibara asked, raising a pointed eyebrow.

“Just some Dragon Candies,” Conan replied… then smacked himself. Dragon Candies. _Of course_!

Made by the Suzuki Company, actual _dragons_ , they weren’t named just for the creators. They literally made people breathe _fire_ if enough were eaten –four being that magical number.

And suddenly, the last line made sense.

Dracula let out a barking laugh, coming to the same conclusion as Conan had.

“That KID,” Dracula smiled grimly, “A man after my own heart!” With that, he sank back into the shadows, leaving Conan to his misfortune.

“Hey, Mitsuhiko, where’s my candy bag?” Conan called.

“Huh?” Mitsuhiko looked up from where he, Ayumi and Genta were chewing on some left-over taffy. Mitsuhiko looked at the bag in his left hand, “Uh…”

Conan’s stomach dropped. “ _Please_ tell me you guys didn’t eat all of them!”

“We didn’t eat all of them!” Genta obediently replied.

“Only… _most_ of them.” Mitsuhiko winced.

“We saved two!” Ayumi said, “one for you and one for Ai-chan!”

“Guys…” Conan massaged the bridge of his nose, only looking up at the sound of a wrapper being pulled off. He watched in horror as Haibara popped hers into her mouth. “Haibara!”

“What?” she shrugged, “we’re going to have to get more anyway.”

“At this time?” Conan scowled, “none of the stores are open and if they _were_ , they would be sold-out by now!”

“No worries, brat.” Sonoko stole his top hat to give his hair a good ruffle. His ears twitched indignantly. “You’ve got luck on your side tonight. I know _exactly_ where we can get some more Dragon Candies.”

Of course.

Why didn’t _Conan_ think of that?

*             *             *             *             *

The Suzuki household is exactly as Conan remembered it being from his time as Shinichi, as is the family itself. Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki are all too happy to give Conan some extra candies in order to help him track down KID’s final clue. Mr. Suzuki seemed entirely _too_ excited to be a part of some thief’s scavenger hunt, but Conan wasn’t looking a gifted horse in the mouth.

“Remember,” Sonoko said as she handed the three other candies to him, “you have to eat them one after the other. No liquid in between. Otherwise, no fire.”

“Yeah, I know.” Oh did Conan _know_.

Sonoko had once dared Shinichi to eat four of them when they were back in middle school. He’d made it to three before it felt like his stomach had caved in on itself. He’d had to go home sick. More worryingly though, his shifting powers had tried changing at the time to adapt to the spicy magic-fire bubbling in his gut.

He only hoped his control had improved since then.

“Okay, everybody else, out!” Sonoko shooed everyone from the room. “Trust me. Fire like this is a _big deal_! I don’t want you guys getting singed because some newbie can’t control himself.”

“Can Hattori stay?” Conan asked, a little more scared than he’d meant for it to sound.

“Sure thing,” Hattori said before Sonoko could protest, “need someone to hold your milk for you?”

 _Or force more candies down my throat._ Conan thought morosely. Out loud, he answered, “Something like that.”

Hattori took up post behind him, quart of cold milk held in one hand as the other held the candies Conan needed to eat. The first, from Conan’s gift bag, was easy enough. Sure, it was hot, but if he didn’t leave it to rest too long on any one spot on his tongue, it didn’t feel like his skin was burning off.

The second one wasn’t as easy, his mouth already tender from the first hard candy. He was tempted to open his mouth and let out puffs like the kids had, but he knew that would extinguish the ‘fire’ of the candies.

The third brought _tears_ to his eyes and sweat to his brow. It was all his could do to keep his mouth clamped around it.

“Oi, Kudou,” Hattori whispered, sounding concerned, “you okay there?”

Conan whimpered in response. His mouth was on _fire_ and all he really wanted to do was down the entirety of the carton of milk, but he _couldn’t_. All because of _KID’s stupid dare!_

“Your ears are disappearing,” Hattori continued, “No, wait, they’re more like… horns?”

Crap, not as controlled as he’d hoped.

Conan swallowed the candy and rasped out what he could without breathing too much. “Shifters adapt. Okay. Last one.”

“Wait, so you’re adapting to the dragon candies?” Hattori squawked as quietly as he could so as to not draw attention from those hovering in the doorway. “You’re shifting to a _dragon_?! Is that even _possible_?!”

Conan shoved the last candy into his mouth, ignoring the way his stomach burbled unpleasantly.

It felt a little like bubbling magma in his stomach, heating him from the inside-out. With each suck on the last candy, it fed that magma, heating it until it went from solid-liquid to liquid-gas and then straight up vapor. Sweat poured down his face, soaking the brim of his hat and the collar of his shirt.

Swallowing the last candy, he nearly gasped when he felt that gas in him ignite, turning to pure _energy_ , forcefully and _violently_.

“Kudou?”

Out. He needed it _out_. He needed to let the flames _out_ before they _consumed him entirely_.

“Kudou, the paper!”

Right, the paper. The clue. Heat activated. Just a little. Just a little fire out. Not too much. Don’t want to burn it-!

But when he opened his mouth, he had no control. The flames saw a way out and they _took it_. He coughed, his rib cage rattling as that _violent energy_ flew forwards, refusing to be caged. A jet of flames as big as _his head_ shot forward, burning straight through the card and catching the tips of his gloves on fire.

Hattori cursed and yanked Conan’s gloves off. Conan clamped his mouth shut, doing everything he could to keep the rest of the flames in, having already failed in his quest to get the last clue. He didn’t want to add property damage to his list of deeds for the night.

Guess they would be getting the trick from KID instead of the treat.

“Here.” Hattori shoved the open carton of milk into Conan’s hands. Not a moment of hesitation; Conan threw back his head and chugged the entire thing, barely pausing to breathe in between gulps.

The instant that milk hit his stomach, the fire flared, then died, screaming as the magic was counteracted by a simple ingredient. Carton empty, Conan dropped his hand, letting out a sigh of relief and smoke.

Oh, ugh. His mouth tasted like _ash_.

“Nice one, brat!” Sonoko hollered from the doorway, “We might make you a dragon yet!”

“Conan-kun!” Ran yelled, concern lacing her voice, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” he yelled back, waving them over. “It’s safe now!”

The rest of the group started forward. Conan sighed and capped his empty bottle of milk. Underneath his hat, he shifted his horns back to furry ears before the group could get close enough to see.

“Well, _that_ went well,” Conan grumbled, ashamed of his own loss of control. “Don’t think KID would give us a do-over, do you?”

“Don’t think you’ll need it,” Hattori said, grabbing Conan by the shoulder and forcing the boy to turn to where the ashes of the card had fallen –or should have.

After being incinerated, the card hadn’t turned to dust but rather… magic smoke? It glowed electric blue like the words on the bone-white candy that Conan still had in his bag (and was looking _really nice_ now that his mouth tasted like a smoke-tray). As if guided by an invisible pen, the blue smoke curled in mid-air, forming words in a very familiar handwriting.

_It can be hot or cold or in-between._

_One thing’s for sure, home is where the heart be_.

“Are you serious?” Sonoko complained from her spot next to Hattori, “we have to go _back_ to the Detective Agency?”

“Isn’t that where we started?” Ayumi asked a mystified Mitsuhiko.

“What could be there?” Genta wondered aloud.

“Well, we won’t know just standing here,” Kazuha griped, her tail flicking this way and that, “Let’s roll out!”

Well, at least _someone_ was having a good night.

Conan coughed up another mouthful of smoke.

*             *             *             *             *

When they returned, it was to Mouri passed out on the couch, two cans of beer on the coffee table. Not his usual limit, but maybe they were a different brand?

“Otou-san!” Ran put her hands on her hips as he startled awake. “Drinking on Halloween? Really?”

“Weird…” Mouri looked around blearily. “I don’t _remember_ drinking.”

He spied the two beer cans and picked one up. The other was unopened. Mouri snapped his fingers, “I remember! Azusa-san from downstairs came up to wish me Happy Halloween! I insisted she stay for a drink and then…” the cambion frowned and crossed his arms in thought, “then what?”

Conan didn’t bother to lay it on gently. “Azusa-san was Kaitou KID.”

“Haaah?!” Mouri’s jaw dropped.

Hattori sniffed at Mouri, wrinkling his nose against the lingering smell of smoke and booze, then at the air around him. Hattori pulled back, attempting to put his hands in non-existent pockets before crossing them. “Conan is right. There’s a smell similar to the knock-out gas KID uses at his heists. My guess is KID used your invitation to get in, then knocked you out to do whatever it was he had planned.”

“Ice cream!” Genta shouted from the kitchen.

“Ran-nee-chan, can we have one of your ice cream cupcakes?” Ayumi pleaded by the door.

“Ice cream cupcakes?” Ran frowned, “I don’t remember making any…”

“Are they from KID?” Mitsuhiko asked, “they’re kind of soft, like they started to melt.”

Conan looks over at Hattori. “What do you think? Fit the timeline?”

“All depends on when KID was here,” Hattori replied, “If your fire was ‘hot’, then the ice cream is ‘cold’ and at the moment, the cakes are certainly on their way to ‘in-between’. It’d fit your last clue.”

“Oji-san,” Conan called, “Did KID, er, Azusa-san leave anything with you?”

“No?” Mouri patted himself down. “Not that I can tell.”

“Maybe it’s in the cupcakes…” Conan trailed off. He turned to head into the kitchen, only to run into Haibara. “Haiba-urphm!”

“I believe this also fits KID’s first clue or, rather, his challenge,” Haibara said, taking the spoon back after Conan was forced to eat the ice cream on it. He glowered at her. She sniffed, “Ice cream has a time limit, no? If we waited too long, it would melt –hence the trick.”

Conan pouted and swallowed the chilly treat, “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like the kind of trick KID would do. I feel like it should be something… bigger? More lasting?”

“How would you have felt, running around town, only to come back and find your ‘treat’ had melted?” Haibara asked. When Conan opened his mouth to reply, she cut him off, “Rephrase: if you were _them_ , how would you have felt?”

Conan looked in where Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko were happily chowing down on yet more sugar. He was kind of surprised they hadn’t fallen into a sugar coma yet, with all the sweets they’d had that night.

“Yeah, if I was a normal kid, I’d probably think it was a good trick,” Conan grumbled, “and KID doesn’t know who I am, so…”

“Conan-kun!” Ayumi called, “your cupcake is melting!”

“Coming!” he called back. He really didn’t need more sugar, but… eh, what’s one night to indulge.

They were small things anyway and ‘his’ was lemon flavored. It even had a small piped figure of him on it. Every cupcake had a small piped figure, showing which was which, making Conan wonder, but… no. The hunt was over. He never saw KID, but that didn’t matter.

He had a fun night with his friends. That was enough.

But KID couldn’t just leave things the way they were.

He had to leave words on Conan’s cupcake filter.

_Good job tonight, Tantei-kun._

_As good as a detective you are, I knew you’d figure out my riddles in time to avoid the trick._

_Enjoy your treat and have a Happy Halloween._

_-Kaitou KID_

_PS: love the costume. Let me know if you ever want to be a lovely assistant. ;)_

Next time Conan saw that thief, he was planting a soccer ball right in that smug smile.

*             *             *             *             *

Haibara was woken by the shrill ringing of a phone. It was far too early after a long night full of riddles, magic, and sugar _–the sugar, ugh._

She answered the phone if only so it would _stop ringing_.

“Hello?”

“ _When were you going to tell me the coffee was a color-changing spell?”_

Coffee? Oh right.

“So that’s what it did,” she found herself saying before she thought it through.

“ _I thought you said the spell was harmless!_ ”

“Technically, a color-changing spell _is_ harmless.” She could argue semantics, but she _really_ just wanted to go back to bed. “… how did you figure it out? The antidote was in the candies we ate through-out the night. The spell shouldn’t have taken affect.”

“ _My glove, which I used to wipe my mouth after the coffee, turned purple –along with anything it touched_.” Edogawa said from the other end, sounding peeved for some reason. “ _My entire costume is now bright fuchsia!”_

“Why do you care?” Haibara asked, rolling onto her side, “I thought you hated the costume.”

 _“… Shut up!_ ”

The dial tone met her ears, making Haibara smirk. Someday, Kudou would figure out just how he felt about the thief and she would laugh and enjoy every minute over it. Every. Single. Minute.

Now, she just wanted to sleep off her sugar coma in peace.

Several blocks over, Conan glared at his phone and kicked the purple suit, top hat, glove –pair, outfit, _thing_. Haibara was right. He had despised the outfit the entire night he’d had to wear it.

So why was he so upset it was now _purple_ instead of white?

“Stupid thief,” Conan growled again, ears laid flat. He’d figure out this mystery… eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> That moment when you write KID's challenge and you realize it is in the shape of KID's logo. (O.O) (is it me? or does the first one really look like it?)
> 
> Not gonna lie, I kind of like this AU. :) Too bad I can't think of anything but this. 
> 
> I *was* inspired to write this by a fic that made Hattori into a Frankenstein monster and where Conan was a vampire, but I can't seem to find the fic again? If I find it, I'll link to it. Credit where credit is due, guys!
> 
> Also, I wanted to remind you guys that I am doing NaNoWriMo during November. I have a couple things stockpiled, but we'll just have to see how it goes. :) I'm super excited! If any of you have read my Last Day Again series, I'll be doing another Time Loop, only this time to my own characters. :) A bit sadistic, but I'm *so* pumped. ;) 
> 
> DUE TO NANOWRIMO, I will be replying to comments only on Saturdays... if I get to it with my daily word minimum. We'll have to wing it a bit. Sorry I don't have more news for you. :/
> 
> If you want to say "Good Job!" or "Sequel please!" just leave a Kudo (or a Kaito. ;) Every Kudou needs a friend... that doesn't just want to sit in the dark and read Holmes books)
> 
> If you have constructive criticism, please leave a comment below. I am always looking to improve, so any advice helps. :)


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